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Smoking Barrel’s Graffiti Criticism Corner, Rome Edition

In this semi-weekly series, I, Smoking Barrel/Genna Rivieccio (don’t make me choose an identity) will give you insight into some of the very coked out political-minded graffiti that tends to appear specifically in the Rome area. I will try to lend some sort of behind-the-scenes thought process to graffiti “artists” who genuinely believed what they were tagging was genius and/or made any sort of sense. At the end of each critique, three of the following grades will be given: Why are you torturing my eyes?, Marginal or I Want to Get What You’re Saying, But I Just Can’t.

One would think that international graffiti would hold something of a more intellectual flair. However, it would seem, this is a false preconceived notion to have. Case in point, is this little cherry from a rando wall on the streets of Rome, declaring, “Antifascisti Sempre,” which means “Antifascists Always.”

I don’t know much about Italian politics (who does, really?), but I do know that fascism was once a thriving form of government during the thirties and forties. Mussolini, was, in fact, the most fuckable dictator. Maybe this is why some Italians are still reeling from the effects of this era and feel the need to make claims about never returning to fascism again. And yet, as Shakespeare once said, “The lady doth protest too much,” an aphorism that holds true for this particular graffiti “artist” trying so hard to deny his political heritage.